


Batman: Brightest Knight.

by Chaotic_Creations



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: F/M, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-18 13:34:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28867857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chaotic_Creations/pseuds/Chaotic_Creations
Summary: Across the multiverse a dark frequency rang out and every corner of the known universe felt it. A dark, twisted and corrupted anger that threatens to swallow everything whole. A darkness our heroes have never seen before and in an attempt to fight, they search out for light strong enough to face it.Though no such light exists within their universe, not even their brightest heroes can stand against the shadows that are being casted upon them but there may be hope yet. For within the multiverse there lies a world in which the brightest of our hope, love and compassion shines unfaded.A world in which men of steel are reforged, truth is spoken freely and where there is no dark knight instead there is a world in which the Bright Knight Rises.....
Relationships: Barbara Gordon/Dick Grayson, Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	1. A Leap of Faith.

Chapter One: A Leap of Faith. 

A small electric hum flashed within the Batwing and lit up Batman’s face with a soft red tint as he flew towards his destination. There was a look of determination and focus on his face as his eyes never once looked away from their target. The mission was simple, he and the rest of the league would investigate a strange anomaly that was detected twenty-four hours ago on the coast of Japan. An anomaly that played a strange, bone chilling frequency that Batman had never encountered before. 

Even the rest of the league had never encountered something so mysterious. There’s a saying that goes, “if the league discovers something then Batman knew about it forty eight hours before.” Normally that was true at least to some extent but even Batman was unaware of this. Somehow this anomaly had slipped past the man, who always had a plan. 

An for once in a long time, he felt the fear of the unknown and that shook him to his core. Yet despite this Bruce didn’t back down, he was determined to see this through and to overcome it. As he approached his destination, his communications went off and the familiar voice of Superman filled the empty plane. 

“I’ve made touchdown Bruce, I’m not seeing anything here. Even x-ray is detecting no sign of the anomaly.” He said calmly as he looked around the ocean and searched every inch he could with his eyesight. “What about Arthur? Has he detected anything yet?” Batman asked as he began reducing his speed and turning on a variety of high range scanners, which were equipped within the Batwing. 

“Negative, Aquaman has search the ocean floor and had Atlantis do long range seismic activity scans. Nothing on their end.” Superman replied as he crossed his arms and lowered himself towards the water. “What about Flash? Has he cleared the coastline yet?” Batman asked as his plane flew within view of Superman and switched over to hover mode. 

“Flash is finishing up now, he and Diana have almost moved everyone in land. It should help save lives if this turns into a fight. Though I’m not sure that’s the case yet, are we sure this isn’t some kind of mistake? Maybe our satellites were wrong?” Clark suggested as he flew over beside Bruce and looked over at him, clearly trying to figure out what he was thinking. 

Bruce, who was never much of one for sharing kept his cards close to his chest as he contemplated his next words carefully. Obviously he was hiding something but as to what, Superman was unaware. “Have the lanterns discovered anything in orbit?” Bruce asked next as he began tuning his equipment, switching over to a variety of different signal and frequency scanners. 

“No Hal and John both searched, one checked low orbit while the other checked just outside Earth’s gravitational pull and nothing came back. Tell me Bruce, what aren’t you telling us? How did you discover this anomaly in the first place?” He asked, eyes still watching his face as he tried his best to read Batman’s micro expressions. “....” For a moment Batman remained silent before finally speaking. “I have multiple satellites that are tuned for detecting low levels of cosmic dimensional energy. Yesterday a small spike accrued and remained detected for one minute before going silent. Now there’s nothing.” 

He told him as he rubbed his chin and tried to think of an explanation. “What caused it? Any idea?” Clark asked him before Bruce nodded. “I’ve got a theory but it’s not a good one.” Bruce told him as he pulled up the data and crossed referenced it with a previous event. “If my theory is correct then this anomaly resulted from the dark multiverse.” He said as he sat back against his seat. 

“The dark multiverse? So could this be the Batman who laughs? Think he’s back from the dead?” Superman asked but Bruce just shook his head. While he wasn’t a hundred percent sure, he did know this didn’t fit the way The Batman Who Laughs did things. It was more like something had pushed up against the window of their universe but it didn’t want to break in instead it only wanted to peak inside. Almost like it had been looking for something or.....someone. 

“No....it’s not him.” Bruce replied as Superman took a deep breath. “You’re scared aren’t you Bruce? Is it really that bad?” Clark asked as his eyes only showed concern and worry for his friend. Bruce took a moment to reclaim the last bit of fear that was within him before he turned towards Clark. “Clark....” He started to say before a loud tearing sound ripped through the air with intensity. Quickly both men looked towards the source of the sound and was met with a monstrous sight. Above them a giant 30,000 foot tall bronze statue came lower down towards the water, it’s arms stretch outwards in a t-like pose as it stopped just an inch above the water. 

From there it’s eyes glowed bright red before it turned its arms forward and brought them together to preform a loud clap, which caused a red shockwave to spread out all around it. Quickly Superman flew in front of the batwing and used his body to shield it as he called out over the radio. “Leaguers! Take cover!” When the wave hit him it went right through him before continuing onwards in every direction. It didn’t seem to have any effect on him or Batman for the moment but there was no way of truly knowing. 

“Bruce? What was that?” Clark asked as he turned towards him, eyes wide as he watch the wave continue. “Some sort of scan based on my guess though it’s more advanced then anything I’ve ever seen.” He replied as his own devices were going off, each one now detecting the large creation in front of them. As Batman began his reconfiguration, the large statue’s eyes turned off and it fell into the ocean. The large splash causing not only earthquakes but tsunamis as well. “Diana! Barry! Watch out!” Clark shouted as he flew towards Japan before he stopped in his tracks as Aquaman spoke. 

“Don’t worry Kal, I’ve got this!” Said the king of Atlantis as he jumped out of the water, rolled onto the beach and turned around before stabbing his trident into the ground. Quickly it glowed as the waves parted around him before he pulled it out of the ground and began spinning it around him. Using the powers of his trident, Aquaman controlled the ocean and the earth. With great strength he calmed the seas and settled the earth before falling to his knee. 

The destruction that would have been caused was prevented for the moment but the statue was still standing, unfazed by the actions of the leaguer. Out of nowhere came the Flash, who quickly caught Aquaman as he started to stumble. “I got you pal, you did great.” He said as he helped Arthur to his feet, letting him put his weight on him. Diana soon followed and arrived beside them. “Clark do we know what this is? How’s Bruce?” She asked as she looked up at the statue, trying her best to determine its origin based on historical information but clearly while this thing looked human it wasn’t. 

“Bruce is fine, we aren’t sure but he believes it might be from the dark multiverse.” He told her before Batman came over the coms. “No, the anomaly we detected was from the dark multiverse. This isn’t it.” He said as Clark looked down at him while he was still on the batwing. “What do you mean?” Clark asked as Batman was still typing away at his equipment. “Whatever this is, it has a signature that’s completely unknown. Furthermore it has no traces of the dark multiverse on it.” He informed Superman as he began cross referencing all the data he could. 

“Based on my data, this statue doesn’t originate in our multiverse either.” He said over the coms as Barry let Arthur rested against Diana for a moment so he could run out into the ocean and run around it. “That doesn’t make any sense. If it doesn’t come from the dark multiverse or our multiverse then where is it from?” 

The speedster asked as he tried running up its leg before he was repealed off of it, landing on the water before he sprinted back towards the beach. “I can’t even touch the thing, some sort of shielding or perhaps it’s particles are moving at such a different frequency that I can’t interact with it.” Barry comment as he went back to the beach and stood by the others. 

“Correct you are speedster.” A voice replied over the league’s com channel as a mysterious stranger appeared before the trio on the beach. They were dressed in a large black hood, a cape that covered most of their body besides some of their lower half which was uncovered by the cape but covered in a strange sliver metal that seemed to hum. Quickly Diana drew her sword and got in a defensive position as she stood between the stranger and Barry and Arthur. 

“Identity yourself.” She said but the stranger didn’t seem to care about her request, instead it sighed loudly and grunted as it stood up. Once on its feet, the figure stood at seven feet tall and was rather lean for its height. Arms long and snake like as it pointed upwards at the statue. “It has deemed your world unworthy.....I’m sorry.” It said as it turned around and faced the trio, hood still covering its face as the majority of its body was still hidden behind its cape besides its legs which were slightly bent at the knees and metal. 

From behind Clark landed on the beach as Bruce flew around behind the trio and landed his plane before getting out to join them. “John and Hal, we might have a problem. Meet me on my location.” He sent out as he walked towards them. Clark slowly began approaching the stranger as he kept his hands up where it could see them. “Clearly you know what this is, we mean you no harm but if you threaten this planet then we will defend it.” 

Clark spoke as the stranger turned towards him. “You were almost enough....but your resentment towards the boy has kept you from greatness.” It said which caused Clark to stop and look at the stranger in confusion. “What does that...” Before he could finish his question, Batman stepped forward and spoke. “What is this thing? Why doesn’t it match any data we have?” Batman asked as the stranger turned towards him now, clearly more interested for whatever reason. 

“It’s because your data is limited....like your potential.” It said before gesturing to the statue. “It is a watcher, a sentinel of the multiverse that is task with finding the greatest heroes within reality in order to fight against an unspeakable darkness.” The stranger told them before it lowered its hand and squatted down to the ground so it could grab a fistful of sand before letting some of it fall through it’s grip as it stood up. 

“Your world is one of many which has been filtered through the hands of the sentinel. Though unfortunately none of your heroes have the light required to fight this darkness which means your world is unworthy of being protected. Soon....soon it will leave and move on to the next.” The stranger informed them as it tossed the sand away into the wind. 

“What is the darkness? Is that what the anomaly was?” Batman asked as he stepped forward towards it again. “Yes....it’s an ancient evil that predates your multiverse. In fact it predates the formation of your reality’s birth. Before The Hands tasked Perpetua with creating something here, there was nothing but an unsayable hunger that was all consuming.” It said as it squatted again, this time facing towards the ocean. 

“It has awoken and is feasting on the dark multiverse as we speak. Soon it will arrive here and devour all of your worlds before going to the last multiverse.” “The last multiverse? What do you mean? There’s only two?” Barry said as he looked to the others and then to the stranger. 

“There are three multiverses, one of darkness, one of light and one made of balance. Yours is the one in the middle, the one that can be influenced by darkness or light and it will be the second to fall when the darkness arrives.” It told Barry while Clark went over to Diana and the others. “So there’s a whole other multiverse? How? When we fought against The Darkest Knight, he destroyed all the worlds and only the dark multiverse was left. There were no others universes especially not a whole multiverse of...light?” 

Barry said as he looked among the other leaguers, none of which knew what to make of this information. “Yes...but no. The Darkest Knight destroyed your neutral multiverse and reshaped his dark multiverse however the positive multiverse was never accessible to him, nor was it detectable by any means. The positive multiverse has been safe guarded in secretly since the dawn of creation. 

There the greatest heroes live and thrive against the darkness. They will have no problem defeating The Unspoken but your multiverse I’m afraid won’t have a chance of survival especially without a sentinel.” It said as Clark just shook his head. “There’s always hope. We will find a way, we always have and we always will.” He said as he approached the stranger again and sat down beside him. 

“There must be something we can do to fight against it, some way of making ourselves worthy of the sentinel’s help.” Clark added as he looked up at the statue and then back to the stranger. “Plus I know a sole survivor when I see one. Your world was lost to this Unspoken wasn’t it?” He asked and the stranger simply nodded. “My world was the first to fall in all this.” It said as it turned towards Clark. 

“There....there is a way to activate the sentinel but it requires a beacon of light. A hero who’s light shines bright enough that the sentinel can’t ignore it.” The stranger told him before Superman looked at the others and then back to the stranger. “Where can we find a hero like this?” He asked the stranger. “In the heart of the positive multiverse lies a world in which the greatest hero stands unparalleled. Their light would not only awaken the sentinel but it would be enough to rise an army of heroes against The Unspoken. They are your only hope.”

The stranger said as he stood up again and pointed to Batman. “But only he has the ability to convince the hero, which means he would have to travel to the positive multiverse alone.” The stranger told all of them as Clark simply shook his head. “No, even if we knew that would work we aren’t send Batman alone.” He said as Batman looked at him before he looked over at the stranger. “Can you send me to the positive multiverse?” Batman asked as he began checking his equipment before he stepped forward until he was right in front of the stranger. 

“Yes....I can.” It replied simply as it offered its hand out to Batman, who took some time to think it over for a moment. Once he was certain of his next move, he grabbed the stranger’s hand and disappeared in a bright flash of light. For a moment he felt nothing but a falling sensation as he was surrounded only by darkness. 

There was a peace to it, a weightlessness that was almost freeing. He wondered if this is what Dick felt when he flew through the air, he hoped so. That thought brought a smile to his face and in that moment he almost forgot about the mission. However soon after, the familiar feeling of wind against his face caused him to opened his eyes and he discovered that he was free falling. Quickly he opened his glider and glide downwards until he landed on soft grass. 

As he gained his footing and began looking around he immediately recognized where he was. He was in the center of Gotham national park yet something was off about it. The park was warm and lively, a healthy shade of green that was meet with bright blue skies. It was almost like something out of a painting yet as Bruce squatted down to touch the grass he felt it. This was real, this was Gotham and as he looked around he saw giant skyscrapers that stood like sculpted marble. Each one perfectly crafted to create a breathtaking sight that had Batman at a lost for words. 

Though there was one building that made him stop dead in his tracks, a building that took all the air out of his lungs like that night in crime ally all those years ago. It was the tallest building in the city and its logo was as bright as it could be. “Wayne Enterprise...” As Batman processed this, he was completely unaware of all the people who were quickly evacuating the area. It was only after he heard a voice behind him did he snap out of it but as he turned towards the source, he was met with another surprise. This one was in the form of a Batman, dressed in all white gliding down towards him. 

“Looks like you’ve picked the wrong city.” 

To be continued.....


	2. “The Batman Who Smiles....”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce Wayne finds himself in a strange new world where the greatest hero of Gotham isn’t a Dark Knight but instead it’s a Bright Knight.....one who’s about to show the Dark Knight how he gets the job done.

Chapter 2: “The Batman Who Smiles....”

As John and Hal landed on the beach, they were meet with an unearthly sight. “Where is he!? What did you do to Batman!?” An angry Superman asked the stranger as his eyes glowed red, his hands curled up into fists as it took everything he had not to attack the mysterious individual. “I sent him to where he’s needed....I sent him to the positive multiverse so that he might bring back hope for your world.” It said as it looked up to the sky. 

Elsewhere.....

Before Batman stood a man roughly his height, dressed in a strange, smooth and metallic armor that was all white with hues of gold that ran along the armor like that of an ancient engraving. In the center of the chest there was a golden bat that seemed to radiate pure light and almost pulse like a heartbeat. Though none of that drew Bruce’s attention like that of the smile this light crusader wore upon his face. 

“You know....under normal circumstances I would just comment on your choice of attire and tell you to wait until comic-con to play dress up but....considering you’re radiating an awful lot of dimension energy then I’m guessing you’re not from around here.” The Brightest Knight said as he crossed his arms and looked Bruce over, clearly trying to figure out what to do with him. 

“You’re right, I’m from a different multiverse and I came here to find the Brightest Knight. I was told he’s the greatest hero in the positive multiverse and that if my world had a chance of survival then I would need his help.” He replied truthfully as he looked around the park and noticed the police setting up barricades. The paranoia began building in his chest as he clinched his first and stood his ground, trying to play this like Superman would. 

“Greatest hero in the multiverse? I wouldn’t go that far, I’m fairly decent but far from the greatest. Hell I’m not even the greatest hero in this universe.” He replied as he shook his head and offered out his hand to Bruce. A bit reluctantly, Bruce reached his hand out and shook his hand before a loud explosion went off behind them. Quickly both men turned towards it and watched as multiple floors of Wayne Enterprise was engulfed in flames. Without missing a beat, the Brightest Knight turned to Batman. “We will continue this in a moment, don’t go anywhere.” He said as he ran towards the building before jumping up and flying towards it as twin boosters in the soles of his boots extended outwards and sent him forward into the air. 

While in the air, the bright knight brought his fingers up to his ear and spoke. “Commissioner are you seeing this?” He asked as an unknown female voice came over his earpiece. “Copy Batman, looks like some kind of internal explosion. Based on aerial data the fire is on levels 27-34.” She said as Batman did a silent nod, mostly to himself as he landed on the twenty-seventh floor. “Has fire and rescue been deployed yet?” He asked as he began scanning the damaged while looking for survivors. 

“They are in position now.” She said as outside a large red and white blimp flew over the building before it began sending out hundreds of drones that quickly descended upon it. Half of them began putting the fires out while the other half checked the integrity of the building. “Scans show no one on levels 27-29 but there are two people on floor 30, five people on floor 33 and seven people on floor 34. Rescue units are standing by for attachment.” The commissioner said as the Bright Knight ran out the window and flew up towards level 30. 

Meanwhile Batman, who wasn’t one for just standing by made his way towards Wayne tower. Once at the base of the building, he fired his grapple upwards and scaled up the building before finding the Brightest Knight on the 33rd floor. Quickly he went over to help him left a fallen support beam off a man’s leg. “Thanks...guess you got impatient?” He asked as he stood up and grabbed a drone. He then pulled a lever on it that opened it up until it resembled that of a backpack. Gently he sat it on the man’s chest before the drone began covering him in a metal like cocoon which slowly hovered off the ground before it flew him out the window and down towards the ground where a mobile med unit waited for him.

“I’ve got six more people on this floor and we need to get them to the medical unit down on the street. In order to do that I need you to grab a drone and pull the lever on its back, this will open it up for medical transport. Just place it on their chest until you hear a click then move on. Cover this floor while i handle floor 34. If you get done in time, meet me there. I’m patching your cowl’s frequency in with mine. We can keep in contact that way.” He said as he typed away at his wrist computer before he went jumping back out the window. 

As he moved on, Batman followed his instructions and began helping the various people still located on this floor. Once that was taken care of, he grappled his way up the building and landed on the 34th floor. There he found the Brightest Knight prepping the last survivor. “Just in time, was just finishing up.” He said as he stood up and watched the last drone carry the survivor out. “Commissioner that’s the last survivor and the fire is out, how’s the building’s structure?” He asked as he pulled up a holographic display in front of him and Batman. 

“Building is looking good, last month’s remodeling helped with the damage but I am seeing a strain on an outside support beam located to the east of the building between floors thirty-two and thirty-three.” She replied as the holomap displayed the location. “Right, I’ll have construction take a look at it but for the time being I’ll apply a nano-sling.” He said as he walked over to the east window and looked down at the area. Slowly he raised his arm up and flipped a switch on his gauntlet that caused a tiny rocket looking device to pop out. 

Aiming for a moment, he found the perfect spot before firing it. Once the projectile hit its target, a liquid metal began pouring out from the center until it coated the weakening beam. “There the building is secure and the survivors are extracted. Mission accomplished.” He told the commissioner as he started to walk back over to Batman. 

“I’ll let GCPD know, any idea what you’re going to do about your new guest?”  
She asked as the Brightest Knight just looked over at him before nodding. “Yeah, I’m going to take him for a ride once I find out what he knows.” He said before he disconnected his call and stood before him. “Well you did good Batman, though fire and rescue is rather simple.” He said as he crossed his arms and smiled. “I must say, you did proficient work. I’m impressed.” Batman replied as he looked out towards the city. 

“Years of practice. Plus I had help.” He said as he motioned to the blimp. “What are they?” Batman asked as he pointed to the drones while they were flying back. “Really good drones well it’s a lot more complicated than that but basically consider them the brother eye of Gotham.” He said as he leaned up against a nearby wall. “Designed by the commissioner and the mayor to help with a variety of different disasters, they come in handy quite a lot. Especially when getting people to safety.” The Brightest Knight told him as he turned towards him and gave him another once over. 

“Alright I’ve gotta ask, what’s the deal? You come here, start talking about different multiverses and then just expect me to come help?” He asked as Batman turned toward him. “I was hoping you would...normally I wouldn’t be so eager to get help but....something is different about this.” Bruce said as he took a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh. Which didn’t go unnoticed by the Bright Knight. “I see....well you’re certainly a Batman but the question is which one?” He asked as turned to face the city and thought for a moment. 

“Tell you what, let’s go for a ride. I know a spot where we can talk.” He said as he flew down towards the ground and Batman followed. Once on the street, the Bright Knight typed in a command on his gauntlet and had the Bat-mobile pulled up to the curve. It resembled that of a Jaguar Vision Gran Turismo Coupé, a metallic sliver color with a custom reinforced titanium smart metal exterior that had heightened shock absorption and a built in ram kit. The interior was mapped out with holographic displays and a variety of life support systems. Not to mention a series of on board no lethal and lethal weaponry. 

The wheels were built within frame with magnetic locks that made it nearly impossible to take them off. As for the seating, there were two seats in the interior that were wrapped with a smart synthetic fabric that was easy to warm or cool given the outside temperature. When they got in, Batman looked around the console before turning towards the Brightest Knight. “Quite the setup.” He said as the Brightest Knight nodded and smiled again. 

“You’ve got no idea.” He said as he flipped a switch and had the car go into hover mode as they drove off, slowly going up until they were flying over the city. From this height Gotham seemed to shine a different color, it’s buildings blending together to create a perfect city that seemed to stretch as far as the sun shined. “It’s quite the sight isn’t it?” He asked as Bruce stared out the window. For a moment Bruce was lost in the colors as he looked upon the city. It reminded him of a time when he was a child. When his parents had taken him to London and he got to see the city for the first time from the sky. 

“It...it’s quite the sight indeed. Your work is incredible. I’ve spent years trying to make Gotham like this with nearly no progress.” Bruce replied as he continued to look out over the city. “Well Rome wasn’t built in a day and the same goes for this city. It took years to get to this point.” The Brightest Knight told him as he gestured towards the city. “The truth is Gotham wants to be saved but she doesn’t know it. The key was removing the cancer that ate away at her. Once that was gone it took years to build her strength up and to make her healthy again.” 

He said as Bruce turned towards him. “What do you mean by cancer? Crime or something else?” He asked before he felt a slight bump as the bat-mobile began to land. Once they landed, the Brightest Knight got out and Batman followed. He made his way over to a nearby ledge and waited for the other man to arrive. After a moment, Bruce arrived and stood there for a second before he was motioned to sit down. 

“I must admit, the city looks better then I’ve ever seen it. It’s healthy and alive though you said that’s because you removed a cancer?” Bruce commented as he sat down and looked out over it, each building standing proudly as the city seemed to radiate hope. “Yeah....it was touch and go for a little bit in the beginning but we’ve managed to build something good here. I’m taking it that your Gotham is still....Gotham?” He asked as Bruce just simply nodded and the Brightest Knight could tell he was tired. Not the type of tired that came with lack of sleep but the kind that came with lack of hope. 

“It’s alright Bruce....” He said before Batman turned towards him rapidly, eyes wide behind his mask as a wave of anger, fear and confusion washed over him. The Brightest Knight could sense the tension and quickly held his hands up. “Relax, I’m Batman remember? I knew it was you the moment you spoke and I’ve got to say I’m happy to see you.” He said with a smile on his face that was much softer as he slowly lowered his hands and looked out towards the city this time. 

“The cancer I’m referring to was one that was killing Gotham since the very beginning. One that ate away at her hope, her love and her happiness. Once it was ripped out, she started to heal.”  
He said again as his hands gripped the ledge. “You still haven’t answered the question? What was the cancer?” Bruce’s asked again as the Brightest Knight took a deep breath, knowing Bruce wouldn’t take this well but instead of telling him he did something different. Slowly the Brightest Knight turned to him before he reached up and clicked the side of his cowl. Having it deconstructed around him to revel his identity to Bruce, leaving the dark knight speechless. 

To Be Continued......


End file.
